It's the Most Freezing Cold Time of the Year

Wow, it has been NON-STOP since I last wrote. Just checking in and saying - we're still here and we've survived all the winter driving. With that massive storm that came in on the 12th, we had to pack up a little early and drive for 24 hours straight to get ahead (and stay ahead) of the storm. Right after Jarett's last exam, we packed the van and drove to Calgary where we had a 8 hour stay/rest before we were on the road again to get ahead of the sub-zero weather and the enormous amounts of snow that were coming. The storm started to pick up and we ended up driving all the way from Calgary to St. George, UT in one day. The huge blessing behind this is that when we finally stopped there, the snow stopped about 6 miles north on the Interstate. In fact, just 30 miles north of us a semi-trailer lost control and jack-knifed causing huge delays and horrid problems. We were totally protected by the hand of the Lord. We were also very blessed because Jaymeson was AMAZING. He only needed to be fed when we reached our scheduled stops, which caused us to be able to keep good time and be able to beat that storm. We very much felt like we were in the movie The Day after Tomorrow with the storm coming from the north and freezing everybody on the way down. We had a wonderful week in California and on the way back we actually had a worse trip. Through Idaho and Montana we hit horrid snow, but we were able to make it through due to many, many prayers and VERY slow speeds. If we had waited one more day though, we would've hit much more snow in Utah as well. We feel so blessed with how things worked out and know that the Lord was watching out and protecting us.

Santa and then some randoms

So at Jarett's school, they had a Family Christmas Party. Every year we've made an effort to go and we're never disappointed. The kids talk about it all year long and can't wait to go again. The girls were SO excited to see Santa and the magician and all the other kids that are there. The party went well. I dropped the kids off with Jarett for the first half while I attended a funeral. When I got there, the magic show was just ending and Kienna was up helping out the magician.

You may notice the Frosty the Snowman that the magician is using. He pulled this out and suddenly Saryn started balling, "I want my Mommy!!" It was SUPER cute. So I got to hold her for the entire time that Frosty was in sight. It was sad, but so funny too. Supposedly someone took pictures of when Kaia got to help the magician (this was before I arrived).
Of course, we were pretty sure that Santa wouldn't be a huge hit with Saryn once we saw her react to Frosty. We couldn't have been more dead on. The older girls sat on his lap first. We wanted to get a picture with Saryn too, but realized this would be close to impossible. So it ended up being a family picture.


Yesterday we had some fun photo opportunities as well:

Saryn was playing dress-ups (the norm) and came upstairs with her dolly. She sat on the couch and immediately fell asleep. So here's to my little Snow White/Sleeping Beauty.


Kienna has been so sweet holding Jaymeson all the time. If it's "exercise time" for Jaymeson, she'll still show him she loves him - even if it's by leaving him a little rose...



We had a blast making cookie dough last night. We started it off with a bang. We put the butter in first and started the bosch before mom had put the lid on. Kaia got a spray of butter perfectly placed right in the middle of her forehead. It got some good laughs and everyone was in a great mood for the remainder of the evening (which was quite an accomplishment - trust me).

Well, that about sums up what we've been up to. Now we're just going crazy getting ready for Christmas and our big trip down to California. We have 3 weeks to get ready for in 2 days - yikes!! Here goes....

Look Who's SMILING!!

Jaymeson has always been a smiley baby....and not just the little pretend gassy smiles - BIG smiles from just a few days old. They were few and far between, but now, he's smiling a LOT and I LOVE it!!

Fire Safety and Christmas Thoughts

Today I was going through a pamphlet with Kaia on things she has learned at school. One of the questions:

"What would you do if your clothes were on fire?"

Kienna made a lot of sense with her response:

"Change my clothes!!"

Yesterday as we were driving home from Costco, Kaia surprised me with a question that I don't know the answer to. "Mom, what if you were naked on Christmas Eve?"
Any ideas on how to answer THAT one?

Our Christmas Tree

So, many of you have shown us the pictures of your GLORIOUS Christmas Trees. I LOVE them, and am just a touch envious as, this year, we have decided to stick to our classic tree.

We received this tree as a wedding present (this is more normal if you consider that we were married 3 days before Christmas) from Rosalee (my Dad's secretary) and it served as our Christmas tree until our kids were old enough to care about wanting a real one and decorating it. It really is a wonderful tree and is perfect for a young couple starting out. This year, we've decided that because we're going to be out of town from the 11th on, it really isn't worth it to spend the money and time on finding a tree and decorating it (especially since we have access to some perfectly wonderful trees at both of their Granny's houses). So, here's to our perfectly wonderful Ceramic Christmas tree!!


On the other hand, we have Stockings to hang up this year for the first time, courtesy of my sister, Alanna. This was a surprise gift last Christmas Eve from Alanna that I LOVE and I'm so happy that I finally have. She quilted these for our family and is currently working on the one for Jaymeson (good luck Alanna with getting his whole name in). Anyway, since I love these so much, I thought I would post them on here too (with the Christmas tree standing in for Jaymeson's stocking). YAY for Christmas Decorations!!

Bedtime Rituals

I have always been a big believer in keeping up a schedul, so ever since Kaia was born, we've had a very set bedtime ritual. The time has varied a little bit on occasion, and as each child comes, we are juggling more, but these days it generally goes as follows:

7:00 pm - usher the kids up the stairs (this frequently resembles herding cats)

7:05 - Kaia goes potty, Kienna changes into her pajamas and brushes her teeth, Saryn gets her diaper changed and a nightie on and dances around...Mom reminds everyone what they're doing and does everything including jumping up and down and standing on her head to encourage them to do this in less than half an hour.

7:15 - Switch!! Kienna goes potty, Kaia brushes her teeth and changes into her pajamas and Saryn switches on to her 2nd or 3rd nightie of the evening and continues dancing (even while Mom is trying to brush her teeth and hold the baby at the same time).

7:25 - Mom checks/goes over/flosses everybody's teeth as well as checks hand washing. Then the kids are ushered into their room for prayers (personal and family) as well as stories (getting them into their room doesn't take very long, but getting them to stay there is nigh unto impossible - in fact, I don't think it's ever happened). While reading stories Saryn escapes into Moms room and gets into her miscellaneous drawer. She continues to empty this out while the baby feeds because Saryn knows that Mom can't come and stop her while the baby is eating.

7:40 - Mom makes the rounds to each child tucking them in and giving them kisses. This has recently been extended to about 5 minutes because each child has to hug and kiss (and hopefully snuggle) Jaymeson. Saryn will say, "I wanna snuggle Buddy" and how do you say no to that? So all the girls (except for the one on the top bunk) get to snuggle with him.

7:45 - Lights out (for the first time). Kaia and Kienna stay in bed and wait patiently/fall asleep while Saryn gets in and out of bed, turns on the lights, empties the bookshelf, opens and shuts the closet, climbs on the head of her bed to lift up the curtains and look out her window - well, you get the general idea - for the next half hour. Once she does something that makes a noise, Mom comes in and puts her back to bed (trying very hard not to give her any of the attention she so obviously wants). This happens over and over again over the period of a half hour. After half an hour Mom thinks (foolishly) that Saryn is going to settle down, so she'll go downstairs to deal with the rest of the house. Saryn takes this opportunity to go back into Mom's room and go through that top miscellaneous drawer again. This is where creams, clocks, notes, bracelets, tums, patriarchal blessings, cards, and any other things you would want close to your bed is held. Saryn goes through and empties this out and always finds the worst possible thing she could and squirts it or squishes it or ruins it somehow. Once Mom's bedroom is sufficiently destroyed, Mom hears a sound and goes back to put Saryn in her bed....and stands at the door so that if Saryn makes so much of a peep, she'll be put back to bed.

8:45-9:00 - Saryn finally drifts off to sleep with her sisters. Sigh. Mom is so exhausted, she collapses and somehow has to get back to the rest of the responsibilities of the house so that she doesn't start too far behind on the following morning.

10:00-11:00ish - Mom heads to bed when the baby finally falls asleep, peeks in on her little girls and sees how totally sweet and innocent they look and falls in love with them all over again....just enough to last for one more day!!

Here are some pictures of our new part of the ritual.....snuggling with the baby.

The baby sleeping silently once his sisters are settled.

My Poor Little Girl

So, do any of you have one child that just has an extra special gift of being able to pick up any sickness that is going around? As you read my blog, you may have noticed that Kienna seems to be the #1 child that I mention whenever there are accidents or sickness in my home. Today is no different. My kids woke me up at 7am, which is pretty typical. (They've been waking me up recently due to the wonderful sleep I'm getting with a newborn baby - actually last night wasn't too bad, he only woke up 3 times between 11 and 7 - YAY!!) This time, however, Kaia was rubbing Kienna's back and Kienna didn't look happy at all. Kaia went on to explain that Kienna felt hot and her stomach hurt and that she thought she was going to throw up etc. Kienna didn't feel hot at all, but she isn't one to make a fuss out of nothing, so I proceeded with caution. Everyone got dressed, had breakfast and got ready to take Kaia to school. (Kienna got to get away with just putting pants under her nighty and only got to eat a piece of bread). As I was getting breakfast ready for the other girls, sure enough, she threw up. Yikes!! I guess we got it, we finally had the flu hit us. Kienna is, without fail, the first to get sick with any bout of anything that might come through. She just told me, "Mom, I don't think there's anything that will makemy stomach feel better, so I'm just going to lie on the floor until it gets better. Oh no, I guess I won't be able to have dessert tonight, that's not fair..." She's so sweet.


Kienna has always had this special gift. She always finds a way to get hurt, have extra medical conditions or get sick like no one else. Even as a baby, she was my C-Section. At two weeks of age, she was hospitalized and had a spinal tap and everything. It took 12 tries to get an IV going because she was so dehydrated. They finally had to get it going using a scalpal vein, right above her ear. She had so many ear infections before she turned 1, that when she was 13 months old, she had ear tubes put in her ears. She has had her ear brow split open, the back of her head split open (during this event, we decided to crazy glue it back together and Jarett's hand got stuck to her head....after 45 minutes of using nail polish remover, they were detached. It's humorous now that we're looking back on it.),and her chin split open (she bit through her tongue as well this time). She was wrapped up like a hot dog and had 3 stitches in her chin on the last occasion, she still talks about that as though it were a great time. More recently, she has broken her collar bone, had multiple eye infections and has been sick so many times, that she is completely trained to just get up and run to the toilet or use her bucket (which we always keep right under her bed). Sigh - anyway, it's hit again. Not a big deal this time, it's just sad that it's always my sweet little Kienna.

A little known fact....

Some of you people out there may not know that I have a super power. I have super milk!! You didn't know that you knew a superhero, did you? I have a 5 week old baby that has already gained a ridiculous amount. At birth, he weighed 7 lbs 12 oz. At two weeks, he weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz. Less than one week later, Nov 10, he was 9 lbs 8oz. The day of his surgery, Nov 18, he was 4 weeks to the day and was already 10 lbs 8 oz. Today, he fit into a 6 months sleeper and it really isn't that big on him. He is just growing way too fast. I think my super hero slogan should be, "just add milk and they grow".

The Royal Post!! Updates galore.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!! In Celebration of the Cahoon Family's 90th post, we have gone Royal. We are completing the updates of when the computer was unable to upload pictures and we are going to be completely up to date!! So come back with us to the beginning of September and up through mid October and see what us "Royals" have been doing.

The two oldest princesses started Swimming Lessons this year.
(The Paparazzi were lucky to get these shots because cameras are apparently not permitted in the YMCA. Thus, the poor quality of the pictures.)

Around the castle:

Princess Kienna is sporting this AWESOME hair-do courtesy of the Anderson girls. During Princess Kaia's violin lesson, Princesses Kienna and Saryn went over to the neighbouring country to play with their princesses (commonly referred to as the Anderson Girls). When the royal carriage arrives to pick them up, Princess Kienna was sporting her new high-fashion hair style. Apparently they were playing hairdresser...

Princess Kienna's is once again sporting this AWESOME hairdo...but this time accompanied with her funny face that she puts on when she knows that she's being silly and she hopes that her subjects think she's as funny as she thinks she is. I love this shot because it's such a classic "Princess Kienna" face.


Found in the castles kitchen, this little guy is actually about 2cm long and was found by King Jarett half way through a Nectarine. It crawled out of the pit, that the King had left on the counter, while he was in the process of eating the other half of the nectarine. That was the royal family's last box of nectarines for the year.


Little Princess Saryn got a horrid goose egg this September. The worst one we have yet to see. This was caused by standing up on the arm of her throne chair in the living room and trying to jump. Unfortunately, during the wind up to the jumping, she slipped and fell sideways hitting her royal head into the corner of a really solid end table. YIKES!!


The Princesses are sporting the "Ashley Classic" shades.
Give me two pipe cleaners and you too can look like they do. Any colour, any shape of lenses.
They are a royal classic!



On to October.....more around the castle pictures.

Little Princess/Mommy Saryn loves her "baby". She holds, cuddles, feeds, dresses and talks to this baby. She sings her lullabyes and puts her to sleep. She's going to be such a great mommy.


Princess Kienna is frequently seen sporting this red dress (courtesy of Granni Cahoon) as she becomes a ballerina. This is especially common in the mornings while Primcess Kaia is at school. She dances frequently with her younger sister Princess Saryn (who sat out and was taking care of her "baby" during this particular photo shoot) to Candyland (a demo song), Cancan, Funiculi Funicula, Waltz of the Flowers and La Bamba. They also try new songs frequently and are quite phenomenal dancers. This is a daily ritual in the Royal household.

Periodically, the King who is lovingly referred to as "Daddy" will join in and allow each of his princesses a turn to dance with him. After each song he bows, and they each courtsy and say to eachother, "Thank you for the dance". This continues through many, MANY songs until the King needs to sit down due to complete exhaustion or if he needs to attend to his royal duties (catch a bus or do homework).

Well, that is the end of our ROYAL update. I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into the glamorous life in the Cahoon Castle. From now on, we will be updating the blog as things occur because this whole update thing has been a Royal Pain...

My Love Language Test Results

I feel loved when...

The Five Love Languages

My Primary Love Language is Physical Touch

My Detailed Results:
Physical Touch:	11
Quality Time:	9
Words of Affirmation:	7
Acts of Service:	3
Receiving Gifts:	0

About this quiz

Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak.

Tag 3 people so they can find out what their love language is.

Take the Quiz!
Check out the Book

Christmas Cookies

We had a fun night decorating the house on Sunday. After the house was done, we decorated cookies. Here's some random pictures from the cookies.

Follow-up

I just wanted to tell all of you that I really appreciate your prayers and support through this surgery. All went well and I truly feel so blessed for being in this country with the doctors and nurses and equipment and knowledge that we have. Everything went so smoothly and we had such a great experience. Little Jaymeson slept a lot at first, but now he seems completely back to normal and things are going great. He doesn't even have any external stitches, just the surgical tape, so I can still bathe him and change his diaper etc. without any worry. I feel so fortunate for all that I have and I'm so grateful that, although it's not fun, it wasn't a big deal and that I don't have to worry anymore. How grateful I am for his overall health and that all of this will soon just be a memory. Thank you all again for your love and support.

Some pictures....

Jaymeson in his first set of scrubs. It was a little surgical dress, but he looked like a little doctor.

Right when I saw him afterwards. He wasn't awake yet.

My handsome little man.

His IV had a plastic tent covering to make sure he didn't yank it out by accident. I thought it totally looks like the plastic hand covering David Duchovny "the hand model"'s hand in Zoolander. It made me laugh.

My sleeping angel.

Hospitals

When all is said and done, I really don't mind hospitals. The people there are usually friendly, I don't mind the food, they try to make it a pleasant atmosphere, people try to help you out as much as possible (even though they are frequently overwhelmed in our wonderful health care system) and I usually feel better by the time I leave. I have noticed, however, that going for yourself is completely different than going in for a child.

Tomorrow at 7am, Jaymeson has his surgery. I have been anxious for this day so that I can not worry about this hernia anymore, but now that tomorrow is so close, I'm feeling anxious for a whole different reason. This is my sweet little baby and, although this is a common surgery, I have to leave his life in someone's hands who I do not know at all. Dr Lees is supposed to be the best pediatric surgeon in Edmonton. He has low risk of post-surgery complications and infections and a very high success rate. I take great comfort in this, but he will never care as much for my baby as I do and I just don't trust people enough. I don't know how to explain it, I'm just feeling very overwhelmed and emotional thinking about it. To many "what if"'s go through my head and I feel worried. This is considered a major surgery because they are opening his stomach and his innards will be exposed. If he was an adult he would be in the hospital for days, but because babies are so resilient, he'll be in only one night. I guess it's just the unknown that scares me. I just don't know what to expect.

I have only had an experience like this once before when Kienna had ear tubes put in. It was an outpatient surgery and it was hard enough to have my helpless little baby go in where I couldn't see her and have them bring her back to me an hour later, still asleep, but changed. That was nothing compared to what this will be. There was no recovery time and I didn't have to stay overnight. I don't know if I'm ready to handle this. I'm probably overreacting and really have nothing to worry about....but it's always hard to have things out of your hands.

I guess this is a long rant (that hopefully makes sense) to ask for your prayers and support over the next couple days. I could really use the support. Wish us luck!


PS - As I was writing this, the kids were watching the Prince of Egypt. It was the part where the mother sings that heart-wrenching song to Moses as she puts him in the Nile. We have seen this a hundred times, but this time it must have hit Kienna harder...perhaps because she was holding Jaymeson at the time. She said to me, "Mom, she shouldn't put her baby in the water, why would she do that?" I told her that it was because it was the only way he could be safe. If she kept him, the soldiers would kill him. She looked at me, got choked up and had tears in her eyes while she said (with her voice cracking), "Mom, if you put Jaymeson in the water and gave him away, I would be SO sad". It was such a special moment for me to see how much she loves her baby brother, and also to see her internalizing a special scripture story. What a sacrifice that mother made by sending her new baby to a place that she didn't even know. What faith she had. Maybe I just need that kind of faith.

The Kids On Christmas

We Decorated for Christmas yesterday and I guess that has put everyone in the Christmas mood. The Girls have made the following comments that cracked me up:

Kaia: Mom, What did the wisemen bring to Jesus? I can only remember Frankincense and Myrrh.
(Out of all the gifts, she forgets gold....but can remember Frankincense and Myrrh?)

Kienna: Mom, Santa is a big, fat guy....I won't tell him that though.
(Apparently we've stressed that it's important not to point out to people when they're fat)

Saryn (while showing me a wiseman): This is a bad guy.
(while grabbing your hand and dragging you over to the nativity set): Come see the animals....

Kaia and Kienna were playing with the nativity set and Kaia says to Kienna: okay, you're the angel - so you have to say, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." because that's what it says in the baby Jesus being born video (Joy to the World).

Saryn was just as cute as can be playing with the "toys" aka the nativity set. She was literally jumping up and down as we unpacked them. (It actually is a little people nativity set....a great invention and present from my favorite mother-in-law).

Check it out...

Update #6 - September

First Day of School

Well, Kaia started school this fall. I can't believe how fast the years go. I was told over and over again how emotional this would be for me. I would cry for sure as I saw her go. I have to say, that didn't happen. I was SO excited for her. She was just SO ready to go. Sure, it's a sign that my baby is growing up, but I really get a reminder of that every day. She is such a bright little girl, she is constantly observing everything and trying to learn from it. It's for this reason that we put her in French Immersion. I had to keep her mind busy. This is my little girl who literally knew her whole alphabet by recognition at 22 months of age (and she asked me to learn it). She knew her colors and shapes and numbers shortly after. If asked, she will tell you that her favorite thing in the world is to colour and learn. Who says that?? Kaia does. She is constantly putting things together. Always asking questions and even correcting people who she thinks aren't pronouncing things properly etc. (She gets that from her Granni Cahoon - hehe). So, when Kaia went to school this year, I was beaming with pride and so excited for her to be in a place that will provide her a great environment to learn. We started the day off with French Toast (a Mullen family tradition for the first day of school) and a Father's Blessing.....and then, of course, a little picture shoot. Jarett didn't start school until the next day, so I was able to walk her to the school and have a special moment with her. Her teacher, Madame Kahn didn't really impress me right off the bat. She seemed a little scatter-brained and didn't seem to care about parents etc. I now can see that it was due to her moving to a new school and just getting ready for the new year and adjusting to a new system. Her teacher is great and is right on top of everything. She has neat activities constantly and is very structured and organized (something that Kaia really needs in order to thrive). Kaia had a rough first week. She was really enjoying school, but she was wetting her bed every night and was really grumpy around the house and crying a lot. I found that she was upset because she was so worried about breaking rules etc. She didn't know how things were working at school and she didn't know the structure, so she would get reminders to not bring juice or not to "bud" (she didn't know what that meant) and she would interpret this as her being bad. Once she found the structure and knew the rules, she has just thrived and has loved school. She has picked up reading (in English) phenomenally well. She's already sounding out crazy words. Today she sounded out appreciate and because and beautiful. As I said, she was VERY ready for school. I'm SO proud of my little girl and all she's doing at school. Report Cards are next week... and then parent teacher interviews. Anyway, here are some pictures of her first day at Brander Gardens Elementary School...

Kaia right before her blessing.....with her best friend, Kienna.

It's always great to have a familiar face at a new school.
Mary Grace Anderson is in her class and they've become very good friends.

Crazy 8 Tag

I got tagged by my friend Heather from my good old days in Springville...sigh.

8 Favorite TV Shows in no particular order

Really I don't watch TV, but these are the ones that I seem to catch periodically (or I watch the seasons on DVD)
1.Frasier
2.Friends
3.Family Feud
4.The Office
5.So You Think You Can Dance?
6.American Idol
7.Gilmore Girls
8.Seinfeld

Things I did yesterday:
(I'm going to do today....because it's basically over and I can remember what I did)
1. Bathed 4 kids
2. Reorganized the "office" to be prepared to become a "nursery/office"
3. Made sugar cookie dough so we can have a Sunday Afternoon activity with the girls
4. Took Kaia to a make-up violin lesson
5. Vacuumed all the carpet and swept all the floors in my house.
6. Cleaned the bathroom (while my kids were in the bath - it's a great time saver to be able to watch the kids in the tub, but be efficient too!)
7. Changed many, many diapers......MANY! (Saryn and Jaymeson both seem to think that today was a great day for explosions - thus the early afternoon baths instead of evening).
8. Washed, Dried, Folded and put away two loads of laundry.

This list could actually go on for a while....Today was SO exciting....Ahhh, the glamorous life of a stay-at-home mom.


Favorite Restaurants:
1. Moxie's
2. Joey's
3. any REAL Thai restaurant
4. Japanese Village
5. Cheesecake Cafe
6. Cafe Rio (I miss Utah)
7. Peter's
8. Mullenique Cafe (a restaurant by my mom in our dining room - she would make it all fancy and formal and it would be a special dinner for the family....this is quite possibly my favorite restaurant of all time).

Things on my wish list:

1. Jarett to be done school
2. A House (Jarett to be done school)
3. To not have to teach piano any more (Jarett to be done school)
4. To have an income.....period. (Jarett to be done school)
5. To go on a cruise (Jarett to be done school)
6. To move closer to family (Jarett to be done school)
7. To not have to move again for a long time (Jarett to be done school)
8. To lose weight and get in really great shape (nothing to do with Jarett, but I ran out of alternates)


Things I love about FALL:
1. The smell in the air.
2. The rain.
3. The beautiful colors.
4. Getting back to a set schedule.
5. It's getting closer to Christmas.
6. The Weather - not too hot or cold.....it's just right.
7. Halloween
8. The beginning of school (another year)

PEOPLE I TAG:

1. Who
2. Ever
3. Has
4. A
5. Desire
6. To
7. Do
8. It

PS - It's actually quite fun... Thanks Heather.

Jaymeson 2-2 1/2 Weeks

My strong little boy holding up his head at 18 days.